I’m small, I’m cute, and I’m tired. Did you see how fast my legs had to go just to keep up with you?
Big bird
If you have any interest in aviation you may be aware of the problems the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets encountered with batteries in this new generation of airplanes. After a rollout with some fits and starts planes were grounded after battery fires. “So, what does this have to do with Sequim?” you may rightly ask.
We’re not generally in the flight pattern of commercial aviation. If I’m not mistaken, the only big commercial jets that fly over our airspace are Boeing jets and, specifically, Dreamliners that are being tested for certification. This is a LOT Polish Airlines 787 that flew over Dungeness last Wednesday.
The Dreamliner has a distinctive wing and very graceful lines to my eye. It made its final certification flight on Friday for its redesigned battery system. I’m sure there are a good many people at Boeing who will be happy to breathe normally again after this chapter ends.
Nesting
Birds around here only need a couple days of springlike weather to get the idea: time to nest! I caught this sweet little hummingbird (a female Anna’s, I believe) gathering some nest materials among the marsh cattails.
She got a good beakfull before she took off for parts unknown. Ever seen a hummingbird nest? Scroll down.
We had a bamboo wind chime in California that housed a hummingbird nest. To our delight it was located just outside a glass sliding door. It was quite a hub of activity as first the hummer built the nest and then negotiated a no-fly zone with all the neighborhood birds that used the fountain located about four feet below it. They worked it out. As long as the hummingbird nested above other birds flew in low, never invading the airspace of about two feet around the wind chime and the nest. Eggs hatched in a couple of weeks (16-17 days according to my bird book) and we saw at least one miniscule beak. Work prevented our collapsing into full time viewing. It seemed they were gone in almost the blink of an eye. We waited months before we examined and then collected the nest from our wind chime. The exterior includes tiny pieces of soft redwood bark and lichen. The interior is very soft. It could well be cattail down. And the paper clip pictured here is actually slightly smaller than the standard chrome variety. It is 1-1/8 inch long.
I love hummingbirds. I may post a couple more from this series. But tomorrow: another sort of bird. . .a very big one.
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Feral tree
This tree is blooming its heart out on the side of an otherwise wild hillside. There’s a road above and an undeveloped building lot below. I imagine that someone driving by years and years ago chucked out the remnants of a plum or apple or pear that decided this would be a good place to put down roots. Note to self: Return in late summer and see what’s growing there.
Overweight mermaids
Noticed on a basement door in Port Townsend: “Over weight mermaids,” with an arrow pointing to the right.
This leads me to wonder. What do mermaids eat? And what would cause weight problems? Too much caviar? And why can’t they use that door?
Pink!
The view along Seventh Avenue has come to life as spring arrives.
Sold
It seems every time I drive anywhere I see more houses for sale. At one of them the other day I saw a woman nosing around a front window, trying to look in. Swallows are doing much the same with our birdhouses. It’s nesting season and at long last it appears that things are picking up for humans. The house this sign advertises had barely hit the market before it sold, a good thing for the sellers and the buyers. Not so good for a neighbor – me – who hates to see the sellers go. They’ve been the best neighbors, ever.